Five things we learned from MotoGP's steamy Malaysian Grand Prix

This year's visit to Sepang is almost sure to go down as the weekend on which Marc Marquez effectively put the seal on the world title. Sure, the mathematics still say otherwise, but Jorge Martin's withdrawal due to injury has all but certainly cleared the stage for yet another re-Marc-able success story.

Far from settling for safe points with his rival absent, Marquez looked to grab as many as he could get away with. Mixing risk and reward to perfection, it worked. He didn't try to fight for the win in a tricky sprint race, but was majestic in the grand prix to leave Malaysia with 34 of a possible 37 points.

While Marquez showed off his class, the racing was almost an afterthought as the real battles went on behind the scenes. Which meant an interesting collection of lessons learned over the MotoGP Malaysian GP weekend.  

The riders can stand together after all - if you push them far enough

A united rider front seems to be taking shape at last

Photo by: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

"We are really united, all the riders. More than ever."

That's what the experienced Alex Rins observed ahead of the race weekend in Malaysia. And it's not entirely surprising given what's been going in MotoGP of late. When you push people too far, differences and apathy among them tend to melt away. You, the common enemy, have succeeded in bringing them together. 

Perhaps the other recent bones of contention, like kart races and new weekend formats, wouldn't quite have been enough to get all the men in leathers to stand together. But the idea of being forced to go and race in a war zone appears to have done the trick.

Whether the riders succeed in their attempts to get what they want is still unclear at the time of writing. But the fact that the racers have found it within themselves to sit together on multiple occasions in recent days is momentous in itself. 

And what of the idea that they can never agree on anything? From what we're hearing, they weren't that far away from unanimity when it came to taking a clear stance on the Qatar matter...

The bosses are not afraid to play hardball

FIM President Viegas and MGPSEG Deputy CEO Ezpeleta reckon Qatar is lovely this time of year

Photo by: Dorna

Say what you like about the people in charge of MotoGP: they do like to show who is boss. If that wasn't already clear when they announced fines for anybody making a mockery of their Sunday morning promotional events, it became abundantly so when Yamaha announced its withdrawal from this weekend's Qatar Grand Prix.

It's possible (though increasingly difficult) to imagine a universe in which MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group would nod quietly, say they respected the decision and understood people's reservations. Or maybe even took it as a sign they should call the thing off.

But such sentimentality would have you hounded from office at MGPSEG, of course. The organisation hit back at the Yamaha news almost immediately, with a statement darkly threatening sporting sanctions and reminding the Iwata factory of the "contractual implications" of its decision.

Deputy CEO Carlos Ezpeleta's recent attempts to portray the organisation as the nice guys, when he shifted the blame for rider complaints about the new format onto their respective teams, really haven't aged well as the Qatar dispute has escalated. But MGPSEG should at least get a little credit for owning its stance in public.

Marquez has a freakish attention to detail

Marquez tried an unconventional approach with his ride-height device - and it worked

Photo by: Mohd Rasfan - AFP - Getty Images

Ride-height devices will be obsolete after the next three races. They've barely made the news since their use at race starts was restricted earlier this season. But Marc Marquez hasn't forgotten them. Nor the fact that Francesco Bagnaia won last year's Sepang sprint with a device that wasn't working...

Not many observers noticed that he wasn't using his device as normal on corner exits during the grand prix on Sunday. And not many riders would have thought to revisit Bagnaia's 2025 'problem' to save tyre life and perhaps even a fraction of physical energy in the heat. But most riders aren't Marc. Most riders leave the odd stone unturned.  

"If you are leading, you can do it," he said, explaining that it would be tough to use this trick with serious challengers around him. "If you are second, no. So I was just trying to prepare well the [corner] exit. I was using it quite early, but not on the acceleration."

Marquez also reminded his audience that tricks like this are not the work of a moment. His brain is already churning up these ideas on Friday.

"It was nearly the first weekend that I rode 'full attack' from the FP1. When you are riding full attack from FP1, you can set up the bike better."

Bastianini is coming home hot

Bastianini appears to have stepped up a level as the season approaches its end

Photo by: Asif Zubairi

We've seen the odd false start from Enea Bastianini in his largely disappointing time at Tech3 KTM. But what began as a surprisingly positive Japanese Grand Prix, where he finished fourth, does seem to have turned into a run of improved form over the Asia-Pacific tour.

The Italian's Indonesian outing may not have gone entirely according to plan, but he made it straight into Q2 both Australia and Malaysia. His seventh place on the grid at Sepang matched his Japanese GP effort, and he inevitably went forward in the race, scooping up fifth when Marco Bezzecchi erred on the last lap.

These may not be head-turning results on the face of it, but it's always worth noting where the other KTMs are. Only a genius like Pedro Acosta can drag an RC16 into the top three. Bastianini has at least been within sight of him on a regular basis lately. In fact, he even muscled ahead of the Spaniard for a few turns after some spectacular work at the first corner on Sunday.

While Bastianini may not be in Acosta's league, we also know that his best can be much better than we've seen over the last two seasons. Trackhouse and Aprilia's challenge next year is to extract the best version of Bastianini - and his current trajectory suggests he may bring some welcome momentum to his new team. 

We're going to miss Miller

Miller is a fan favourite wherever he goes

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

Barring something unforeseen in the remaining races, Jack Miller's on-track career in MotoGP will have gone out with something of a whimper. The washout of his final home race illustrated that point rather well. 

Off the track, however, Miller is going down with guns blazing, arms waving and curse words flying. You couldn't fail to notice that at Sepang. First, when he let rip at his team after the sprint race bungle. And then on Sunday, when most riders were holding their tongues about the delicate Qatar situation. That's when Miller turned it on and delivered a hungry press enough quotes on the matter to fill a page. 

Did his special display of emotion and candour have anything to do with his impending departure from the MotoGP stage? Nah, it's just Jack being Jack. And with media-trained nonentities likely to grab an ever greater share of the grid in years to come, his character will be missed. MotoGP's new Aussie, Senna Agius, has a tough act to follow in that regard.

MotoGP collectively holds its breath as it heads to Qatar next weekend

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images